This marriage, which took place soon after the death of the Frankish ruler Theudebald in 555, is thought to reflect Audoin's decision to distance himself from the Byzantines, traditional allies of the Lombards, who had been lukewarm when it came to supporting Audoin against the Gepids.

Cunimund, on the other hand, encountered hostility when he once again asked the Emperor for military assistance, as the Byzantines had been angered by the Gepids ' failure to cede Sirmium to them, as had been agreed.

Historians consider this the decisive factor in convincing Alboin to undertake a migration, even though there are indications that before the war with the Gepids a decision was maturing to leave for Italy, a country thousands of Lombards had seen in the 550s when hired by the Byzantines to fight in the Gothic War.

The accord also had the advantage of protecting Alboin's rear, as an Avar-occupied Pannonia would make it difficult for the Byzantines to bring forces to Italy by land.

The beleaguered Byzantines had their reprieve when Bayezid fought the Timurid in the East.

Kallinikos ' development of Greek fire came at a critical moment in the Byzantine Empire's history: weakened by its long wars with Sassanid Persia, the Byzantines had been unable to effectively resist the onslaught of the Muslim conquests.

This might be because of the general disarmament of the Empire in the twenty years leading up to the sacking, or because the Byzantines had lost access to the areas where the primary ingredients were to be found, or even perhaps because the secret had been lost over time.

In 647 an army of 40, 000 Arabs, led by Abdullah ibn Saad had come to take Libya from the Byzantines and Berbers.

The Byzantines took Cartagena and other cities on the southeastern coast and founded the new province of Spania before being checked by their former ally Athanagild, who had by now become king.

The Normans, first called in by the Lombards to fight the Byzantines for control of Apulia and Calabria ( under the likes of Melus of Bari and Arduin, among others ), had become rivals for hegemony in the south.

However, this close relationship soured when Byzantines suffered from marauding migrant Turcoman bands that had crossed the Marmara Sea and Dardanelles and pillaged several towns in Thrace.

After a series of such raids, the Byzantines had to use superior forces to deal with them.

The Genoese had fought and defeated the Byzantines earlier in 1348 when the Byzantines had decreased their customs tariffs in order to attract trade to the Byzantine side of the Golden Horn.

By 982 the entire area once ruled by Pandulf had collapsed, weakening Otto II's position against the Byzantines.

Ivan Asen II had a reputation as a wise and humane ruler, and opened relations with the Catholic west, especially Venice and Genoa, to reduce the influence of the Byzantines over his country.

By 1371, factional divisions between the feudal landlords and the spread of Bogomilism had caused the Second Bulgarian Empire to split into three small tsardoms — Vidin, Tarnovo and Karvuna — and several semi-independent principalities that fought among themselves, and also with Byzantines, Hungarians, Serbs, Venetians and Genoese.

It is likely that Krum sought the return of certain Bulgarians who had betrayed him to the Byzantines.

However, as the previous 30 years since the approval of icon-veneration at the Synod of 787 had represented for the Byzantines a string of military catastrophes, Leo resolved to reach back to the policies of the more successful Isaurian dynasty.

The Avars had defeated the Byzantines in 598, had taken a large number of prisoners, and demanded a ransom.

On the other hand, the Byzantines wanted a coastal location in Italy for their ease of access by ship.

Western Europe had some access to ancient Greek philosophy through the Roman Catholic Church and the Muslims, but the Byzantines had many documents and interpretations that the Westerners had never seen before.

Alp Arslan's conquest of Anatolia from the Byzantines is also seen as one of the pivotal precursors to the launch of the crusades.

With the Lombard invasion of Italy it was annexed to the Duchy of Benevento, until it was finally destroyed by the Byzantines of Constans II in 663, reducing to a small hamlet known as Quintodecimo ( referring to its distance of 15 miles from Benevento ).

Bursa became the first major capital city of the early Ottoman Empire following its capture from the Byzantines in 1326.

Devotion to Hecate was especially favored by the Byzantines for her aid in having protected them from the incursions of Philip of Macedon.

The " Roman " component in the Bulgarian imperial title indicated both rulership over Greek speakers and the derivation of the imperial tradition from the Romans ( represented by the " Roman " Byzantines ).

The " Greek " component in the Serbian imperial title indicates both rulership over Greeks and the derivation of the imperial tradition from the Romans ( represented by the " Greek " Byzantines ).

Out of this mix developed the Berber people, whose language and culture, although pushed from coastal areas by conquering and colonizing Carthaginians, Romans, and Byzantines, dominated most of the land until the spread of Islam and the coming of the Arabs.

This subdivision, however, together with the independent indocility of the duchies, deprived the kingdom of unity, making it weak even when compared to the Byzantines, especially after they began to recover from the initial invasion.

The Byzantines still controlled the coastal strip from Sile on the Black Sea to Uskudar and the city of Amasra ( Amastris ) in Paphlagonia, but these were so scattered and isolated as to be no threat to the Ottomans.

The Genoese, in trying to repel a Venetian fleet from destroying their ships in Golden Horn, bombarded the sea walls of Constantinople and pushed Byzantines to ally with Venetians.

Eventually the Persians took control of Syria as part of their general control of Southwest Asia ; this control transferred to the Macedonians after Alexander the Great's conquests ( after whose death hegemony of Syria passed from the Antigonids and subsequently the Seleucids ) and from thence to the Romans and the Byzantines.

* The early wars between the Macedonian Slavs and the Byzantines ( from medieval sources )

* 1261 — Byzantines under Michael VIII retake Constantinople from the Crusaders and Venice.

It was a serious reversal for the Byzantine forces and was to be the final, unsuccessful, effort by the Byzantines to recover the interior of Anatolia from the Seljuk Turks.

* 1073: the Seljuk Turks capture Ankara from the Byzantines.

* 1074: the Seljuk Turks capture Jerusalem from the Byzantines, and cut pilgrim transit.

* September 13 – Battle of Ad Decimum: Gelimer attempts to ambush the Byzantines in a defile at the " 10th milestone " from Carthage, due to inadequate coordination and the alertness of Belisarius, the attack is repulsed and the Vandals are scattered into the desert.

* Antioch is captured by the Seljuk Turks from the Byzantines.

* Byzantine Empire: Abdallah ibn Abd al-Malik captures Mopsuestia in Cilicia from the Byzantines and refortifies it, making it the first Muslim base in the area that will later become the Thughur.

* The Byzantines recapture Alexandria from the Arabs.